


Even in the darkness every color can be found

by scarletseeker113



Series: There were days when each hour was a war I fought to survive [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, basically just tony's relationship with everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-10
Updated: 2013-02-10
Packaged: 2017-11-28 19:46:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/678215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletseeker113/pseuds/scarletseeker113
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Tony comes to metaphorically adopt everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even in the darkness every color can be found

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from "Penny's story" from Dr. Horrible's sing along blog.

Tony still remembers how his childhood home felt. He can remember the sound of his footsteps echoing off the empty hallway. He remembers coming home for Christmas break and finding the house devoid of people, because his parents hadn’t told him where they were going. He remembers going to college at the age of fourteen and starting to drink at the age of fifteen. Drugs started at sixteen, and for three years he was pretty much constantly stoned.

And still, he made enough new gadgets to earn his own fortune a million times over.

He remembers when his parents died in a car crash when he was eighteen, and thinking, selfishly, ‘ _Thank God._ ’ Now he didn’t have to pretend to be happy to see them, he didn’t have to worry about his father’s approval, he didn’t have to hear his mother’s hatred for him.

He was stoned throughout their funeral and when it ended the first thing he did was put up his childhood home for sale. He bought a house in Los Angeles instead.

Tony clearly remembers when Pepper interviewed to be his personal assistant. She had walked in, told him that under no circumstances would she be sleeping with him (how wrong she was about that) and he’d hired her on the spot. She was the first one he took in.

When he notices that she’s been crying when he gets back from Afghanistan he feels almost satisfied. At least one person cares.

And then there’s Rhodey, of course, who is the second person Tony adopts, metaphorically speaking. Rhodey had been completely unimpressed by Tony’s displays and there was something about that nonchalance that made Tony think, ‘I want him to be my friend.’ So he made it happen.

And then Obadiah tries to kill him and his entire life falls to shit. It’s not easy to get over the betrayal of his one positive parent figure.

Then Rhodey takes the suit, his new PA turns out to be a SHEILD agent, and Pepper’s pissed at him and he might be dying, and his entire world comes crumbling down.

It turns out alright, but there was that horrifying moment when he thought, ‘Everything’s gone, I messed it all up, just like my old man did.’

He and Pepper become an item, Rhodey becomes a superhero in his own right and Natasha, well, Tony’s always kind of liked her so he adopts her too, but he doesn’t tell anyone.

Bruce Banner is next. Everyone sees him as The Hulk, and only The Hulk. Well, Tony knows what it’s like to be judged by the outward exterior, and he knows that it sucks. So Tony makes sure Banner knows that Tony likes Bruce, not The Hulk. It helps that he’s a genius and can keep up with Tony’s science rants. Just like that, Bruce joins the circle.

The others take more time. Thor is loyal and earnest in a way that Tony can’t ignore. Tony adopts him with a smile and a box of pop tarts. Clint is aggravating which means that Tony automatically likes him. He joins with some explosive arrows and a moving target range. Jane is a beautiful, rare creature, who understands physics in a way that only a goddess can. She’s next with an all-nighter, a tweaked coffee machine and theories about the Einstein-Rosen bridge. Darcy wins her way into his heart with some snark and some blueberry muffins that melt in his mouth.

He starts to worry that his circle has grown too big, too loose and he’s got too many liabilities now.

Coulson is officially adopted when he comes back from the dead. Tony’s so relieved that he almost cries but he puts on a good show of annoyance. Peter unexpectedly joins, when he shows up bleeding outside Tony’s window 85 stories up dressed as Spiderman. He’s clever and sneaky and Tony builds him his own floor, because damn it, he deserves it. Gwen threatens to castrate him if he makes any more innuendos, and he salutes her and asks if she wants a job when she graduates. He likes her spunk, and then he realizes that he’s adopted her too.

Steve is gradual. It starts out with ten miles of daddy issues and proceeds to the fight in the helicarrier. Then it proceeds to, “Call it, Cap,” and then Shwarma. Tony is designing Steve’s floor in the tower before he even realizes that he wants everyone to move in. Steve spends a couple nights a week in Tony’s workshop with him, sketching while Tony does work and it’s nice to have human company without having to talk. With Steve, there is no moment when Tony realizes, there is no conscience decision, it just happens.

Sometimes Tony remembers how his childhood Christmas’s were with his assigned family, and then he considers the present, where he built his family from the ground up, and he rather likes them.


End file.
